Growing Pains
Hey so this is my first blog and as with all beginnings, it might not be so bad an idea as to have an intro into where my journey began.
My journey into the madness of this game began quite simply, with the one club that has never ceased in its ability to cause the greatest pleasure and the most disabling woe, this club is of course the flat stick. Thirty five inches of beading sweat and clammy palms, that is so often the difference between, your best round, that unfortunate three putt and the even more unfortunate double gin that swiftly follows that failing of skill and nerve. Thankfully the gin is only a new complication to an already complex activity.
I remember my first weapon, a beautifully simple combination of golden metal and steel, a “Golden Goose” was its name and I am certain this exact putter was many a person’s induction into the world of golf. It is not necessarily the beauty of the swing, but generally the end result that we most fixate on as golfers. This is how I remember my first swing, yes it was with my Golden Goose and no it had nothing to do with a putting green. Taking a quiet and small stride out onto the centre of the well-manicured fairway of the Johannesburg Country Club. I placed the ball, I had expertly pilfered from my dad’s bag, and at the tender age of seven, even then my choice was Titleist. Now that the most dangerous part of my mission had been accomplished, the thievery having gone unobserved, I was well on my way into golf. The ball placed, the weapon chosen, my only thought was the dimpled fiend I was to now attack. With the single minded clarity that only a child possesses, the ball was sent airborne, as this was the intention my young brain had sought and pictured.
That image has stayed with me ever since, unfortunately it has on numerous occasions been replaced by the pre swing thought of a swooping hook searching aggressively for the nearest tree to make contact with and to nest at its base. Of which the strangeness of the thought is that the result generally follows fairly accurately, all be it with slightly different verbal endings. With proclamations following along the lines of “why god have you personally targeted me to enforce your consternation of the human race”. Why my ball is heading towards the tree, instead of the middle of the fairway that some kind person has dedicated a good portion of their day into creating a lush landing for my ball, well that could possibly be summed up into a topic I have already introduced, the swing thought. This tricky pre shot routine is summed up quite well in a short slice of simple instruction about the take away:
“One simple move to start will get your swing in sync. The first thing you should move in your backswing is the clubhead. With a subtle clockwise rotation of your left forearm, start the clubhead away from the ball, without moving your hands from their address position, and let your right wrist cock. As soon as the clubhead moves, feel as if you're pushing down on the end of the grip with the heel pad of your left hand, so that the butt of the club points to the ground. It should feel as though the end of the grip is pointing straight down before your hands get past the outside of your thigh on the way back.” http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/full-swing/2007-11/startyourswing
But remember whilst you need to focus on this aspect, you should also remember the alignment of your shoulders, your grip, what the wind is doing, is there mud on your ball and importantly whether or not your left toe got enough breakfast this morning.
With all of this going on it is quite easy to forget where your swing actually started, that being where do you want the ball to go. The comparison that I would like to bring your attention to, is that this image that you instil in your mind before your attack begins is possibly the most important window that will provide you with an idea of where your shot will finish its journey. My seven year old self did not know this, however my instinct was to focus solely on where I wanted the ball to go, I had no prior knowledge that the ball may not respond the way my mind had imagined. I had not even contemplated that the club I had chosen was ill suited to the goal I had of seeing it fly through the air, but this did not matter as my want for the result was the determining factor. How then was I able to send the ball flying? Quite simply vision, or more precisely I had created my first ‘pre-shot routine’, one that I think a lot of club golfers and even pros forget is actually involved with the final swing. You wold not envisage yourself crashing your car into a tree, you would imagine driving purposefully around the tree, in fact that tree that you just drove past, well you probably did not even see it, since your path and vision was clear to you. Then why is it on the golf course would we imagine ourselves hitting the tree instead of watching the ball fly in a beautiful arc around it. Doesn’t make sense does it. I can only presume that this game we play for fun, could be harder than our daily lives and routine.
Back to that lovely first swing, I stood there contemplating the success of my shot. The ball had looped more than flew, and I had probably topped it or somehow compressed it downward before it had popped into the air, but for that glorious moment I knew nothing about those terminology or the freezing effect caused by merely knowing those outcomes actually existed. For that moment I had conquered the game.
But wow was I in for a journey of discovery…
Comments